


Robron Meta

by Robertshandsaremyweakness



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 07:50:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16280555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robertshandsaremyweakness/pseuds/Robertshandsaremyweakness
Summary: All the meta I have written on Tumblr





	1. Chapter 1

"What kind of friend would you be to me, Aaron?" - Robert Sugden, 25th December 2017

Forgive me but I need to meta the living daylights out of this…This is gonna be a long one so grab a snack and a drink first…..This is one of my all time favourite scenes between Aaron and Robert. The writing, acting and just the meaning behind this never fail to move me. 

This is a conversation about letting go and that being okay. That despite there being so much love and pain between Aaron and Robert, the only way forward is to try to be happy apart. The fact it is Robert who has initiated this tears my heart to shreds because the most prominent characteristic Robert had was his single-minded selfishness. This sacrifice on his part is probably the hardest thing he’s ever done because it goes against what his instinct usually tells him to do. He has survived being left once (barely but he did it) so for him to do this must have taken a monumental amount of strength. 

Let’s start with the fact that Robert has apologised to and called Alex out as a coward because he won’t fight for Aaron. I find that even on it’s own such an incredibly noble thing to do. Who does that?! Who encourages the man who would take the love of your life from you to do it more? Someone who has decided that sacrifice is the only way to being a better man. I love that Aaron is blindsided by this and clearly doesn’t want to be let go of. The way Danny plays Aaron’s incredulity in that moment is beautiful. He loves Robert and I think wanted deep down for Robert to beg him to come back so for Robert to minimise that feeling and be almost casually glib (”same back” from the man who pulled him out of a submerged car and gave him his dying breath!) about Alex is heartbreaking. 

Robert’s simple, beautiful and truthful declaration of how much he loves Aaron and how much this is hurting him and why he is behaving like this is some of the finest acting I have seen from Ryan Hawley. There is nothing about it that feels forced or wrong. The letting go exchange in this is very interesting too. Robert says he’s letting go and Aaron emphatically says no. Three times. Aaron then says it’s his life and he makes the decisions. Danny’s choice of a slight stammer when he says “….in control of my own l-life” always breaks my heart because Aaron knows where his heart lies really and it’s not with a dull doctor. He claims has made this decision and he needs to be with Alex or someone else and that maybe true that they needed a break from each other due to all their problems but I don’t believe that’s why he went to see Robert at all.His tears betray him too much for that. 

During his fever dreams (btw fandom, the Xmas 17 episode does not get enough love from us - it deserves everything) Robert sees essentially projections and exaggerated versions of how he sees others and what he thinks of himself. So when he sees a suited and booted Aaron coming down the stairs like something out of the beginning of a very good porn movie because let’s be honest DBM in a suit can get it, he’s seeing his ultimate Aaron related fantasy. If this theory is correct, what Rebecca, says to him is true too. He knows all of his weaknesses and that he is messed up. I find it particularly interesting that everyone he speaks to is far stronger than we see them usually too. Anyway, Aaron tells Robert that he needs to play his part to get him back before he tells him that he can’t die and he isn’t ready to lose him. Even as Robert’s heart is being forced to beat again, he has decided to break it by letting Aaron go. Throughout the whole of these dreams he’s been having, he’s wanted to get to Aaron and even after Aaron “dies” and he is in immense pain, he decides that that is what needs to happen thanks to Val playing the part of his conscience.

Then comes the part that breaks me down like nothing else. I love that Aaron instinctively helps Robert up and even makes a lame joke about Robert never doing what he’s told while he pours them both a drink. Aaron is not ready to let Robert go. I believe he went to Robert to tell him he wanted him back but because Robert initiated this conversation, he has resolved to accept what Rob is saying which is why his shy and tentative offer of friendship warms and breaks my heart. 

I think that Aaron was almost scared to say it but any connection to Robert is better than none. I love the way Ryan says the word with a slight twist in his voice as if Robert is having to catch himself not to undermine what Aaron is offering as being tepid or without worth considering what they once were to each other. And he accepts which gives Aaron hope. As if that wasn’t pain enough, Ryan Hawley tears my chest open, removes my heart and shreds it in front of my eyes with his iconic line of “Good. Because I’ll be the best friend you’ve ever had” and then he actually is! Not even two weeks later he’s helping Dr Dull figure out a decent birthday present for Aaron. Who does that?! Robert is breaking his own heart to give Aaron the chance to be happy with another man and it’s beautiful in its complexity and pain. 

Aaron and Robert drink their whiskey with a grimace from Aaron and then he kisses Robert’s cheek as a goodbye gesture and it’s Robert’s turn to feel it. This is an incredible call back to when Robert finally left the Mill when Aaron needed to leave for his mental health. In that moment, Robert’s eyes were deadened and traumatised. Here, the pain is felt and released, leaving an Aaron shaped hole in his heart. This pain is a healing pain. Because he made a sacrifice that Robert would never have made before and he has been so full of hatred of himself, of Rebecca, of her pregnancy and this bitterness has threatened to eat him alive. If having Seb changed Robert, letting Aaron go made Robert because he realised the only was out of this was to go through it. Robert is a highly sexed, passionate soul who chooses to be celibate for seven months because the only person in the world he loves more than anyone else is unavailable to him. Breaking his own heart was a necessary step in the shaping of the relaxed, confident, proud man he is now. This made me so proud of him. 

I started rewatching Robert’s story from the very beginning and that fake, showy, desperately insecure and closeted man would never have done this. He’s grown so much as a man and his metamorphosis was complete in this moment. Just two months later, Aaron can’t stand it anymore and is the one that calls time on this self-imposed exile Robert initiated. They are each other’s home and sometimes you gotta tear down the house with the cracked foundation to build it again stronger than it was before. Robert tore it down and Aaron begged him to build it with him again and to me, that’s beautiful. That’s love. Love is sacrifice and that’s what Aaron and Robert’s story represents and what this scene shows.


	2. Chapter 2

"My own boy.....and I wished him dead! " - Robert Sugden, 10th November 2017 

Okay, I need to talk about this right here. I’m probably gonna ramble but you’re gonna need to deal with that because I LOVE this man. Let me explain. 

Robert is running. He’s overwhelmed. He is convinced he isn’t worthy of being any kind of father to Seb. He’s been to his father’s grave and essentially laid it out to the man who made this hole in his soul. He can’t cope with the idea that he is responsible for a tiny person that he feels he will let down. Abandonment is an easier option. Better to run and leave no trace of himself on this baby. Of course, what he hasn’t thought of is that abandonment is as bad as banishment and he would irrevocably hurt Seb by doing that. 

Aaron, being the ridiculously intuitive man he is, can sense there’s more to it than this. He presses Robert for an explaination and I have to say what you see is (to paraphrase Game of Thrones) the death of the boy and the birth of the man. 

I believe that Robert has been stuck emotionally and psychologically at 17 for a decade. He had wounds anyway from losing both his mothers but for his father to reject him so brutally left a massive wound in his self esteem. He didn’t hear Jack say “I don’t hate you”. You can say those words but if in the same breath you are sending the child away, it makes no difference. 

So Robert left and did God only knows what (where is his back story episode, Emmerdale?!) and clawed his way through to being in the White family. He schemes and betrays and uses whatever he has to to be MORE. To be one of the elite. 

Robert’s MO has been to keep his guard up, find weakness in other people, exploit it for his own gain, get caught, lie, apologize, minimize and get another chance over and over again. Like a child who hasn’t learned that actions have consequences. He cannot see the larger implications of his actions. He tells himself he doesn’t care. Sometimes thats true for sure but Seb’s birth changes him fundamentally as becoming a parent does. 

When he saw Seb, that baby became a person to him rather than a source of very real pain and regret. He realised that he was a FATHER now and most importantly that he is capable of wanting to stop his pattern of selfish behaviour. However, if you are scared of the damage you have done, have serious issues with your own father and feel unable to separate those things, you run. 

Which brings us to this beautiful moment where Aaron talks some sense into Robert’s head. Part of the reason why I love this scene is because of Ryan’s ability to show exactly how conflicted Robert is. He loves Seb, is deeply ashamed of how he felt towards him during Rebecca’s pregnancy, wants to go because he feels he will damage him but hasn’t thought of the damage he would do anyway if he did abandon him because as much as we strive not to, we inevitably hurt our children in some way. Part of the process of growing up is realising that your parents are not Gods or angels. They are human and humans hurt each other. 

Aaron tells Robert after this that he needs to step up, be a father to Seb and most importantly that he had faith in Robert as a father. It is a watershed moment in my opinion because this is the point the boy becomes the man. Robert realises that to be with Aaron (eventually and inevitably as all roads lead back to him) and Seb he has to change himself and choose to put other people and their needs first. The character development of Robert (and Aaron too because that boy has been through hell and is still the kindest and strongest of souls) has been one of the greatest joys of discovering Robron. It’s why I love him. He’s so frustrating and yet his heart is so wide open for those he has no choice but to love and who love him too. This is the point Robert finally grows up and starts to become the man he wants to be. I know that people were so frustrated in this period because they weren’t together but I think this made them stronger in the long run. Robert is a father now. Robert is a husband now. The boy is dead but the man is shining now.


	3. Chapter 3

"... then you told me the truth about Rebecca instead of trying to hide it....." - Aaron Dingle 22nd February 2018

We don't talk about this line enough, we really don't. We all love this beautiful speech, this litany, this outburst of love and appreciation, this prayer to love and constancy but it struck me as I was listening to it yet again, how differently this particular line is said by Aaron. 

I've been thinking about this a lot recently and I realised, the speech is shaped like a pyramid with each layer building one on top of the other to the pinnicle. At the base is Robert himself, the perfectly imperfect man of Aaron's dreams that Aaron knows so very well, who he is safe with and from then on everything he has given Aaron. Through what he went through with Gordon, he gave him validation and compassion, with Liv, he gave him family. He heroically saved his life. He gave him stability through their marriage and building their home. 

Robert's strength got him out of prison, telling the truth about Rebecca was a symbol of respect for Aaron and the concept of truth (more on that later), being a great father to Seb repaid Aaron's faith in Robert's character and finally love at the top. No one has ever loved Aaron like Robert has. No one knows him like that or can read him as well as Robert can. No one has ever made him feel so well and happy all at once. Robert is the love of Aaron's life. It's just that simple. 

I find it so interesting how Danny chose to deliver this speech too. He is such a great actor and the choices here are wonderful. He pours so much emotion into this speech, it's still breathtaking to watch even if I've seen it I don't even know how many times. The way he says "You got me to talk about Gordon" when Aaron would literally rather die than talk about such profound pain. Not talking about his feelings has been Aaron's main defense against the world for years and Robert got him to set it down and actually begin to heal the wound behind it. 

He gets emotional talking about Liv and her not easy relationship with Robert and how Robert "took her in as if she were your own". One thing Robert does do and does very well is to care for the women in his family. Diane and Vic are always cared for by him and Aaron loved how he extended that care to Liv. Robert chose not to abandon Liv when Aaron went to prison. The scene when she asks to stay with Robert is so lovely because she is ready to be thrown away and scared that Robert will send her back but he senses that and reassures her that he'll take care of her and they hug for the first time, bonded over the loss of Aaron and a need for each other to help them through it. 

Aaron rattles through having his life saved, marriage, their home and getting out of prison before he talks about Rebecca and something really interesting happens. His tone shifts completely and he nods emphatically as he says it. Robert cheating with Rebecca hurt Aaron terribly and he turned that pain on himself as his mental health deterioated. The one good thing to come out of that was that Aaron acknowledged and respected the fact that Robert told him and told him everything.

There are five love languages. They are words of affirmation, physical affection, gifts, acts of service and quality time. The truth and the trust that is wrapped up in that as words of affirmantion is Aaron's love language. This speech is proof enough of that. Aaron, who is usually so guarded with his feelings, is pouring it all out of himself with this gorgeous speech. Touch is Robert's and as my lovely friend @getyourfaceoutofmyface pointed out to me, Aaron is much more physically affectionate to Robert than he used to be simply because he knows he needs it. Aaron can deal with anything at all as long as he has the truth and knows where he stands. Gordon used a powerful psychological weapon known as gaslighting on Aaron as a child to further the abuse he perpetrated on him. He bent his reality, confused and lied to him. The truth is hard and cold but it is rooted in reality. That reality feels good to Aaron which is why despite the hurt, Aaron respected Robert telling him the truth. 

If this speech is a pyramid in the way it is written, it's not surprising to me that this sentence about Rebecca is third from the top because it's one of the most important things to Aaron that Robert has done because it meant that Aaron knew he was truly safe with Robert. His sense of self and sense of safety is at ease with Robert and for someone who has been through the hell that Aaron has, that is a deeply beautiful miracle.


	4. Chapter 4

"People don't stay with me.....People don't forgive me.....I do....." - Aaron and Robert, 25th May 2017 

If you were to ask me my top five Robron scenes of all time, including a wedding I have yet to see and cannot wait for, this would be very near the top. I'm saying it right now, Aaron and Robert are the definition of soulmates. It was written that souls began as a circle that the Gods split in half for some transgression against them. The two halves were scattered to the winds, destined to search for the other half of themselves. When those two halves meet again, the fissure between them heals and they can be complete again. 

This scene means so much to me because it distilles and crystalizes that idea and what makes them work perfectly. This is a big moment for both of them as individuals because within the scene, it is a massive gesture on Aaron's part to want to forgive Robert for cheating with Rebecca and for Robert to be forgiven at all. Within these simple sentences lies a lifetime of pain and heartbreak. Both of these wonderful, complex, flawed beautiful men are broken in some way by their parents. 

Aaron was left by the woman who gave birth to him and although cannonically, this is seen as something she did for Aaron's benefit, it is still an abandonement. I have two kids and you would have to kill me before I left them. I've never found Emmerdale's explaination for her leaving him satisfactory really. She fed him to the wolf she didn't she was living with but she still walked away from him. A child doesn't have skills necessary to analyse a situation objectively so they find a way to turn everything into their own fault. Mummy left because I was bad. Daddy hurts me because I am naughty. Children live down as well as up to expectations of those they model in their lives. In walking away from him, Chas created a fault line in her son. She showed him he was unworthy of being cared for. His father showed him just how much. The child Aaron was walked on broken glass his parents shattered in his wake. Everything was his fault. Everything. 

The teenager Aaron grew into was so full of pain, anger, resentment, confusion and I don't blame him for being as shut down and hard to know as he was. The walls he constructed as a child to keep himself safe were high and hard to climb. It took Chas literally years to get Aaron to trust her to any significant degree when he came to Emmerdale. On more than one occasion, she told him he was a waste of space and she'd had enough of him because he wasn't behaving the way she wanted him to. Living down to expectations again. This was borne out of frustration but probably echoed Gordon's voice in Aaron's head. Through Jackson, his accident, his death, the trial and out the other side of that immense trauma, Aaron's propensity to internalise blame and accept punishment whether warrented or not is a direct result of what happened to him as a child. He lost his mother, his idea of who his father was, his first boyfriend, his dog and his husband all through circumstances he can blame on himself. He punished himself for all of them. Even though he has been through so much, Aaron is the kindest and strongest man. The terrified child he was has grown into a fiercely loyal warrior, ready to go into battle whenever necessary. Family is all now. 

Chas (with the godsend that was Paddy as his surrogate father) had to relearn how to be a mother to Aaron and to her credit, she learned quickly and has since become one of the most trusted people in his life. Chas has become a brilliant mother to Aaron who regrets all she did in the past and they have a beautiful relationship now. Even so, that faultline is still there and sometimes it flairs up. Robert has been there for him consistantly and constantly through everything while Robert has been in his life. Aaron's defence mechanism is to shut people out if he feels they get too close. He did this again and again to Robert but Robert wouldn't budge. 

The day before this conversation, Aaron says to Robert that he told him to leave him because Aaron isn't worth the hassle. Robert's reply is heartbreaking in it's simplicity. He says "I love you. It wasn't an option." Even when Aaron left him, Robert was there desperate for news of him. Robert never leaves. Now, when Robert "let him go" (which was such a load of crap because soulmates don't and can't detatch from each other once they have found each other) he really tried hard to not want Aaron but he stood by his promise to be his friend. He never left Aaron. Robert doesn't leave. The scared, abandoned child can rest easy because this flawed protector will stay for good. 

As for Robert, his childhood was also fractured. His mother died when he was just four months old and it was just him and his father for the first two years of his life. Jack then met Sarah and she became his stepmother by law but his mother in every other way. She took such care of him and supported him unconditionally. She spoke up for Robert, especially when Andy came into their lives and was eventually adopted by the family. This was the beginning of Robert's overshadowing by Andy. Andy was exactly the kind of son Jack wanted and Robert wasn't. 

The truth is Jack didn't know how to parent Robert. Robert was an entirely different kind of boy to Andy. He wasn't a farmer and didn't want to be and Jack had no clue how to raise him. Robert began to feel pushed out of his relationship with his dad so he did what children do, he rebelled and the attention he desperately wanted didn't come. As with Aaron, he lived down to what his father thought of him. He wasn't enough. This theme of not being enough has persecuted him for years but the moment he truly broke was when Jack sent him away. I did another meta about this and the eventual toll it took on Robert in terms of his relationship with Seb at the beginning but for now, Jack taught Robert he is disposable. Jack taught Robert he wasn't worthy of a place at his own table. Jack taught Robert that forgiveness is what you give the son you want, not the son you have. Being exiled by his own father with nothing at all, nowhere to go and no one else to rely on was beyond cruel in my opinion. This faultline, this wound has yet to be healed. 

So Robert fled and did God only knows what to survive. He never spoke to his father again and only made a very brief apperance at Jack's funeral. Five years later, he came home and he met Aaron and everything changed. We know now that one of the many reasons for Jack's cruelty to Robert was his inability to understand or even want to understand that his child was struggling with his sexuality. If Jack had tried to be kind, had talked to Robert and actually tried to be a father, Robert would be a totally different person. But he didn't. He shut it down and it became yet more distance between them which eventually couldn't be gotten over. 

One of the last things he heard his father say to him was "You ruin everything you touch". This could have been the mantra for Robert's adult life until he was finally honest about who and what he was. Aaron helped and inspired him to stop being a fake. Aaron allowed Robert the room to see him blossom into the out and proud man he is now. He worked hard to make that happen but it wouldn't have done without Aaron's love and more importantly, his forgiveness. He has forgiven him for everything he's done. Some would argue that is a foolish thing to do considering the gravity of those things but as Aaron so eloquently put it in his speech " you have tried so hard for me, for the people that you love and not everyone sees that but I do...." Robert really has changed and tried so hard to be better. For Aaron and for himself too. Robert got to the point where it was just too exhausting to be anything other than himself and he finally understood he owed it to himself to try and you know what? Aaron's pride in him is obvious. He's magnificent. 

The point I am trying to get to is that the faultlines that exist in these two men are exactly what the other has in them to heal. Aaron forgives and sees Robert for the person he is and is trying to become and Robert stays consistantly with Aaron even when he pushes him away. They both offer each other what they most need to heal those faultlines created in their childhoods by their parents. No one else could have done that for them. They are, as Harriet said, meant to be. They are husbands. They are soulmates. Two souls, whose faultline matches to be soothed and completed by the other.


	5. Chapter 5

"My husband and I would like to thank you for coming..." Robert Sugden-Dingle, 5th October 2018

It's been a few days since this beautiful, mind-blowing wedding and I feel like I need to talk about it all because if I don't, I'll burst! This is going to be very long as I have never done this for a whole episode before so forgive me. That was, without doubt, one of this greatest gifts a fandom like this one could have recieved. It was simple, heart-felt, lovely, funny, sexy, heartbreaking and quietly devestating. I sobbed all the way through it and I feel like I need to write this as a thank you note for that gift. 

There is a reason why we as a fandom stan Maxine Alderton and this is proof positive of what a phenomenal writer she is that she made this perfect, beautiful wedding so emotionally engaging in just 22 minutes. Less than that actually since there were other plotty moments setting up next week and beyond but the vast majority of this jewel of an episode was focussed on our husbands. Maxine gave us their past, present and future. She made it feel like we were really there, included like the family were. 

I feel like this wedding was the real close of one chapter of this story and the opening of another in their lives. A line has been drawn and it has been a rocky, tough road to get here but it happened. Aaron and Robert are married. They are a legal, cemented, proper family as they both wanted. 

Family was the theme of this wedding from the very beginning both familial and not because the village came together as a unit for Aaron and Robert. The village itself was so beautifully decked out in the legendary Betty Eagleton's bunting that had been put up at all previous village occasions. It was vintage and absolutely perfect because it gave it a real sense of occasion. It was as if the previous generations of villagers were there for them too and it was wonderful. 

It had only been four days since Chas and Paddy had lost Grace and that very raw emotion was always just beneath the surface. She was with them in the flowers they wore, in their speeches and in how her mother bravely pushed down her grief to give her other baby the wedding of his dreams before she broke down under the weight of it all. This wedding was as much of a celebration of family love and of life as it was the love between Aaron and Robert. 

Speaking of our grooms, the happiness and joy that radiated off of them was just utterly infectious. From just the reference to them not being able to spend the night before parted to when Robert saw Aaron in all his finery for the first time, through the vows and party afterwards, they glowed with it. The little detail of Robert not being able to stay away from Aaron and it feeling wrong to him for them to be separated for sake of a custom is further proof that the only place Robert calls home is Aaron. The watch, a symbol of the time it has taken to get here and the time they have stretching out in front of them as a family was an incredible moment. They've never been happier. Whatever else happens, they fucking made it. 

Their wedding is simple, brief and yet so meaningful. Victoria's reading was a perfect summary of them. Two flawed, complicated people who have made mistakes and grown as a result who happen to be perfect for each other. The fact that she was struggling with it for her own reasons heightened it and gave it an edge considering how angry she is at the moment and they both understood that and were grateful that she put that aside for them. 

Their vows are equally simple and beautiful. To give each other everything they are and have, fidelity, loyalty, respect, to be cherished and loved forever which is a call back to that first wedding in their garage. That wedding was perfect at the time but this one was so much more because it was finally theirs to share with the people they love and who love them. There was no ending to this happiness this time or time limit on how long it would last before real life stamped on it. They both became so emotional and when they were declared husbands, the relief and joy seemed to explode from them both. They have worked so hard to get here and they made it. You can see it in their eyes. This is really real. They are actually properly married and nothing can change that. And nothing is going to. 

The speeches afterwards confirmed this. I can't think of anything more amazing than the man who was once so fake, shallow, closeted and terrified of being who he was publicly acknowledge how much Aaron taught him about accepting himself and about what love is. His line about being completely lost without Aaron is the absolute truth which no one knows better than Aaron himself. Robert's speech is very him. He keeps it brief but you can tell he is used to speaking like that in front of a group of people. Aaron, however is not a natural performer or someone who is especially good at talking about his feelings, which is why his speech had a far greater impact on me. He shuffles and fiddles with his suit because he is uncomfortable but what he says is so heartfelt and true. Robert makes things better for him and that he loves him. His support is vital to Aaron to the core of his being. The very tip of a huge iceberg that I'm not certain that everyone in his audience is aware of but we are and most importantly so is Robert. 

Chas and Paddy's speeches are a final goodbye to the past. They were once the most against Aaron having anything to do with Robert with very good reason but part of what I have appreciated so much about their relationship with Robert is how they have allowed him to prove his love for Aaron to them and for them to understand that he has changed. There is a moment during the trial era where Chas tells Robert she is glad Aaron has him where Robert looks like he has been bowled over by the compliment from her. It has taken time and so much effort on his part but Chas and Paddy finally are right behind him. These speeches were each framed by the heartbreak of Grace, the boy Aaron was, the man he is and their pride in their son and how far he has come.

I don't think there is a greater show of parental love than parents who push through their own pain to celebrate their other child. Part of Chas' reasoning for making this wedding happen was an escape for herself from her grief but also as an anchor into still being a parent. Aaron doesnt need her in the same way a baby would have but to deny him his special day on her own account is unthinkable to her. She is still a mother and making this day happen for her beautiful baby boy is as much about an act of parenting him as anything else. 

She is being an invincible super mum to Aaron to sit in the space in her head designated for her as his mother to avoid doing the same for Grace without her being there. The wedding provides her with a purpose and once that is over, she is no longer needed in the same way so she becomes a grieving mother without either of her children there. The front she maintains throughout the day is not without weak points as she showed when Seb cried during her speech. Grace has left her mark on her family and she was loved and remembered at her brother's wedding. 

Liv's speech between Paddy's and Chas' provided a brief moment of levity as she recalled meeting Robert and how much he means to her. It was sweet but she is like Aaron in that she is stoic, not given to talking about her feelings at all so the fact she did this at all is proof of how much she loves them. She is so important to them and Chas' assertion that she is like a daughter to her brought Liv to tears because every girl needs a mother and most especially a girl like Liv whose own mother is absent most of the time. 

So, once the speeches are over and all tears have been shed, the party starts. Robert dances like a maniac and its just glorious. He lets loose and is so happy and carefree. I don’t ever remember seeing him like that before. He is the very best version of himself and it makes my heart expand at the thought of how far he has come to be this free. Aaron's efforts to apologize and build bridges with Victoria were so sad because it was only when she confronted them with the thought of losing each other that the full force of how heartbroken she is hit them. The difference is, of course, Aaron and Robert are soulmates and I don't believe Victoria and Adam are but she has nowhere else to place her blame or her anger and they understand that. This almost shadow of being separated is still on Aaron's mind in the back room when he is cuddling Seb. 

This tableau of family love between Seb and his two fathers is beautiful. The looks and smiles as they call each other husband and Robert kisses Aaron's head are another call back to their first wedding in the garage. This tiny, new family feels so solid and a unit. I think this scene is subtle foreshadowing that Robert and Aaron will be fine but events around them will not. This day was the birth of a new family - the Sugden-Dingles. 

I love the name change. I love that this wedding unified them as a family. Names are powerful and purposeful. Aaron Sugden-Dingle chose this name. He is choosing to be Robert's husband first and part of his clan second and for Robert, he is now legally a Dingle. The implications of this for him as someone who was part of a family but not really for so long and has had to change himself to be worthy of their approval because he loves Aaron so much are marvellous. They love him now. He is valued now. He is home now. 

So, off they go into the sunset (you know those suits will be off in seconds and I must say I appreciate the nod to Robert's suit kink!) and on honeymoon. I miss them already. I am finishing this very long meta with a huge thank you to Maxine, to Danny, to Ryan, to this fandom for making this journey the intense, wild beautiful ride it has been. Aaron and Robert are legally married.

They did it. 

They made it. 

They know.


End file.
